Lawless
by DNRtone
Summary: UNDER CONSTRUCTION. go away
1. So a lovegood walks into a bar

**A.N: hello all, it is my my pleasure to present to all of you the first chapter of my first fic! just to give ya'll prior warning there is allot of information that you will have to infer for yourselves including appearances and politics. use your imagination to fill in the blanks. also the way characters are described will change depending on the interpretation of the characters so there may be some minor inconsistencies.  
**

**just to avoid some confusion however here is a little bit of Vocabulary to get ya'll started**

**Companies: Magical mafia groups operate much like spy organizations. Not always made up of Magicals. They are one of the neutral parties of the magical world.**

**Mercenaries****: Bounty hunters more or less. if a hit or capture notice is put out for anybody they find them before the Mundane authorities do.**

**Mundane: Muggles. Muggle is insulting and mundanes would not tolerate insults from freaks without giving them bruises.**

**Broker: people who find, buy and sell information**

**I think that's all you'll need for the time being there will be a sub text with some elaboration at the end.**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter one

_So a Lovegood walks into a bar…_

_Lovegood POV _(1980)

Xenophilius Lovegood walked into the bar. The place resided in the back of a small nondescript church sandwiched between old apartment buildings in one of the quieter parts of London. Xeno felt a weight lift from his shoulders upon entering, the bar was one of only a few places in London that a magical such as him could feel welcomed. It was a nice place; dim accent lighting and dark wood made for a dark yet warm atmosphere that seemed to wrap him up and sooth him. Dame Tisseur knew how to make someone comfortable, even if she was a very stern young woman.

The woman herself stood, tall and spindly, behind the bar. She was busy simultaneously serving several customers but was somehow still able to spare a hand to wave at Xenophilius in acknowledgement. Xeno swore she had too many arms but could only ever count two.

"Ah, Xenophilius Lovegood, greetings. You do realize you look like an omelette right? How are you?" She never turned away from her work, dark eyes following the flow of alcohol from bottle to glass and hand to hand. "What can I get you?"

"I am doing as well as can be expected considering the times, Soie. The wrackspurts are thick around everyone, it's a wonder anyone can think clearly." A small hum was all the answer he received. "And I'll have a sunny-side breakfast cocktail, hold the bacon please." A few of the other patrons gave him odd looks but Soie Tisseur just nodded and went to prepare the drink.

It was not even 30 seconds later that the sound of quiet sizzling presented itself to his senses and a glass with a cooking sunny-side-up egg atop it was placed before him. Xenophilius quickly downed the drink enjoying the way the coffee and firewhisky complimented the egg. He looked up to see Soie holding her hand out expectantly.

"ah, yes." He reached into his jacket and pulled out a large folder "a record of all the dealings and accounts for the past year of the 'Leaky Caldron'."

Soie nodded "one more year of free drinks as promised. By the way, Corvo is expecting you. He's at his usual table. I trust you don't need directions."

"Yes, thank you. No, I'll be fine. Ah, and here" he handed her a cork charm necklace "I noticed there are an awful lot of wrackspurts around your bar, I think it has something to do with your arms" Soie nodded curtly before pocketing the charm and turning to another customer.

Xenophilius made his way to the back of the bar where a sharply dressed man sat waiting at a booth in the corner. Icy blue eyes evaluated him as they always did whenever Xeno met with the man.

"Mr. Lovegood." A dry ageless voice said, it was not the voice of an old man but it was too controlled to belong to belong to a young man either. "It is a pleasure to see you again. I trust business has been going well for you, I heard your wife is pregnant, congratulations."

"Padrone Becchino, it is good to see you as well my friend. And thank you, we are really excited. I would actually like to make some arrangements with you concerning my child if you do not mind"

"Oh? Do tell."

"The world is not safe for my kind, hasn't been for near a thousand years. My child will need more protection than we can provide."

"So you have come to me. Why? Are you not closely affiliated with the Order of the Phoenix?"

"There are good Wizards and close friends in the order. But I do not, can not, and will never trust Dumbledore."

"I understand. We shall discuss this after we finish our other business. You brought the files I hope?"

"Yes, yes" Xenophilius reached into his egg yolk yellow jacket and pulled out a couple folders. "this one is all the observed movements of the other companies, primary deals and transactions over the past year, as well as their members and lists of suspected double agents."

Corvo Becchino eyed the dictionary sized techno-colored monstrosity of print and pictures. It appeared to be a barely organized mess. He knew better than to judge Xeno's reports by their appearance however, every page would no doubt be full of useful information. Even his crazy conspiracy theories contained useful information often even the most vital information in fact.

"And this…" he pulled out a thin folder that might only be holding only a few pages, Corvo lifted an eyebrow at this "…is the information I managed to dig up on Dumbledore. What little of his past I could find. Most of that are death certificates. Anyone who could have given me the information is dead. When I went through their estates I found that in every case Dumbledore received a share."

"The money does account for a great deal of his political power. What else have you found?"

"He keeps up regular correspondence with political bodies including our own parliament as well as the French ministry. He has also established connections with the Vatican and the Inquisitors."

"That does not bode well. Even though he only has a weak connection with Magical organizations outside his own order, he has the potential to wield a great deal of power should the mundanes come to trust him."

Xenophilius nodded "I believe he intends to use the Death Eater uprising to his advantage in that regard. Should he become the hero once more, he would be seen as a powerful ally. But that may not be correct I have heard tell of a prophecy and Dumbledore has taken great interest in the Potter's son. It would also seem that he has leaked this information to Voldemort. I think his downfall is soon to come and Harry will be a sacrifice."

"For now nothing can be done. When it is within our power to interfere we shall do so. We do not want to live during a witch hunt, bad for business."

Xenophilius was shocked "you believe Dumbledore's plans will result in a witch hunt?"

Corvo nodded.

"how?"

"He will use his influence to aim the mundane authorities at his opposition, The Companies in particular."

It was Mr. Lovegood's turn to nod at this. He got the feeling that these plans were a very long way from fruition but it did very little to calm him, the closest thing to a witch hunt in recent history was the holocaust and while certainly horrific it was not nearly as wide spread as a witch hunt would have been. "I see your point."

Corvo sighed and seemed to visibly relax, he took both folders and placed them in the inside pocket of his overcoat. He reached into another pocket and placed a thin cigar in his mouth. Lovegood could feel the dark stare of Soie from across the room. He looked at Corvo and silently pleaded with him not to light it. Dame Tisseur had only two rules don't get blood on the upholstery and don't smoke in the bar, break one of these rules and she would kill you. Lovegood had seen her completely ignore bar room brawls even served a nine year old the strongest alcohol she had available without batting an eye. But the first time someone lit a cigarette the poor man was frantically hammering away at deaths door begging to be let through by the time he was finally thrown out. It was the single most frightening thing he had ever witnessed. Luckily for both men Corvo had considerably more sense than that unfortunate son of a bitch and idly nibbled on the cigar in lieu of actually smoking it.

"About your family…" Lovegood perked up, a hopeful look on his face. "If you work for me I will consider it"

"Of course!" Xenophilius Lovegood stood up a happy look on his face. He held out his hand to Corvo "I am at your service."

Corvo accepted the hand "then welcome to the Crossroads Company"

_Corvo POV_ (1981)

Padrone Corvo Becchino walked down a busy street in downtown London, lit cigar hanging from his lips. He had no entourage, he rarely went out with one, he could take care of himself he had no need of his men's protection. The safety of his men was his job not the other way around. And besides, an entourage drew too much attention for it to really be worth it. There was safety in discretion not numbers. He reached up and took the cigar from his mouth and breathed out a plume of spicy smoke.

He caught the reflection in a window. The reflection was a tall sharply dressed man of an indiscernible age. There was no indication of its age no matter how much Corvo examined it. Its face was too gaunt to belong to a young man but was not so hollow that it would belong to an elder either. Corvo could swear he saw grey hairs in the reflections slicked back hair, but the dirty blonde color contained so many other shades that one couldn't really say for certain that they were the signs of aging or not. The cheeks held no sign of stubble or even the capability of a bearded but it did not make it seem immature in the slightest. And finally the cold blue eyes, eyes that despite the lack of a place-able age felt like they were too old for the face, emotionless and calculating, they were the eyes of a stranger no matter who looked into them.

Corvo turned away from the window and continued onward. He would never admit to anyone how much it disturbed him, no matter how many times he had seen it. He could identify the reflection but it didn't feel right to do so, he had been told that it was a psychological disorder of some sort but didn't care enough to look into it.

He walked on until he reached a trashcan were there had evidently been a bonfire for there were burnt pieces of paper everywhere. Corvo bent down and picked up one that was mostly intact. The first thing he noticed was that it featured a picture, a picture that moved. A magical paper, who the hell printed a fucking magical newspaper? The picture itself showed an infant its brow adorned with a lightning bolt scar on his right temple.

Corvo thought that the paper was interesting but no one printed them mostly because the Mundanes burned them all.

Corvo was able to make out the fragment a headline '**He-who-must-not-be-named Vanquished by Harry Potter The-boy-who-**.' Corvo assumed the child on the front was Harry and found the idea that the _baby_ defeated the dark lord laughable

Corvo was not surprised the Mundanes burned the papers. It was not that they were not glad Voldemort was gone but they did seem disappointed when it wasn't them that did the vanquishing. He was a freak who died a freaky death doing freaky things in a world of freaks that had nothing to do with them. They were wrong but no one needed to tell them that.

To Corvo the death seemed to be a bit of a letdown, an anticlimax. And considering it was that senile old git that orchestrated the whole event from start to finish he could not help but feel like it wasn't over. Voldemort will be back he concluded and Dumbledore must not be the one to finish him off when he comes back.

The crowd seemed to be parting around something coming down the street towards him. Corvo tuned to greet whatever it was and when the crowd parted was greeted by the sight of a hideously scarred man and a stern woman wearing a monocle.

"Madam Bones, Moody." he greeted each with a nod.

"I assume you've read the paper?" Bones asked

"What little of it I could find."

"Dumbledore's handiwork, no doubt about it." Moody Growled.

"I am well aware"

"You are?" Bones asked suspiciously "how do you know of his treachery?"

"I had a broker do some digging, what he brought back was vaguely disturbing. I am surprised you are speaking of him in this way however, aren't you his allies?"

"No" Bones said simply and firmly.

"The man makes ten fuck'n plans to kill every one he shakes hands with, and knows a hundred ways to use everyone he lays eyes on." Moody added it was fortunate that he made a hundred plans to survive any situation and could smell a trap a day before it was even set.

"I see. The enemy of thy enemy is it?" The two others nodded "With Voldimort out of the picture I can assume you are busy hunting down the last of the death eaters. A profitable venture I assume?"

"The majority of them are small fry, small bounties and even less information. The only major hit notices are for a psychopathic couple and a werewolf. They pay well but they are for capture not kill" Bones stated, sounding disappointed

"Dumbledore also put out a hit notice on Sirius Black. We suspect that he may be innocent however and after what that bearded vulture did the least we can do is keep the son of a bitch out of his hands"

"That would be wise. If I see Black I will be sure to let you know."

"You have our thanks Corvo." Madam bones stated

"Just know that I will expect a favour from you should I find him. By the way, what is to become of the young Mr. Potter?"

"We do not know."

Corvo raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?"

"After Voldimort kicked the bucket the kid just up and disappeared." Moody shrugged. "We're mercenaries not baby sitters."

Corvo thought for a moment, searching his mind for a way to find the boy. He had no doubt that the boy was hidden behind wards not unlike Corvo's own. However there were a number of artifacts that new the locations of magical children. Provided he could find one that was not confunded he would be able to find Potter. Corvo lifted his cigar to his lips only to find with some disappointment that it had burned itself down to ash while he had been talking. He reached into his coat and retrieved another one, lighting it. "My apologies Bones, Moody, it appears that I have some work to do. Excuse me" with that he turned around and made his way back to the bar.

_Chapter 1 end_

**A.N: And there you have it here are s few notes just to clarify some admittedly confusing segments of the ****narrative**

**Xenophilius' drink is a three layered cocktail comprised of coffee and Firewhisky, the egg is cooking because of the fire whisky. not sure if fire whisky would actually do this but there is literally no way to test this so for all intents and purposes lets say it does.**

**Dame and Padrone are not Names but are simply Honorifics the same way madam ****or****sir are****.**

**The 'reflection' Corvo sees in the window is his own, he just has trouble identifying with it.**

**if Ya'll have any thing to ask just do so of think of your own crazy explanations.**

**thanks All! please review.**


	2. all the crazies think their normal

Chapter two

_All the crazies think they're normal_

_Lovegood POV (1991)_

"_I've finally found it. It only took what? 10 years? Admittedly it was a bit of a challenge but I did it, wish it was this easy to find the crumpplehorned snorkaks." _This was the train of thought of one Xenophilius Lovegood he had had spent the past years going through all his channels for even a rumor of the artifact Corvo was looking for. And he found one! He was on his way to Corvo's office practically skipping like his daughter would do. He loved good news.

He couldn't help but marvel at the facility. It was seven floors of solid marble, it was hard to imagine that the bar was just a few floors above his head. How Corvo was able to enlist the goblins in the construction of the place was a mystery. Not to mention how he was able to convince no less than seven goblins to join the company. Goblins hated wizards. They hated Mundanes even more, this only made Corvo's success that much more of a mystery. Xeno suspected, though no one could prove it, that the Crossroads Company had a strong alliance with the Goblin National Bank. He was convinced that gambling, metal music, arm-wrestling, and explosives were involved somehow.

Xeno was pulled from his thoughts as a heavy iron door swung open into his path and he was fairly certain he broke his nose. Why some of the doors opened outward he wasn't sure, he was sure however that nargles had something to do with it.

He quickly pulled out his wand and fixed his nose blinking away the tears that were clouding his vision. His vision cleared in time for him to see the new arrival. The first word that came to mind was "_pointy_". The girl seemed to be made of knives, all of her limbs and joints meeting at sharp angles and unusually sharp teeth could be seen framed in the most horrifying grin. The second thing he noticed was that she was completely naked and completely covered from head to toe in blood among other bodily fluids of questionable origin. From behind her the sound of sobbing could be heard. The expression on her face was one of such ecstatic bliss that anybody would have normally called it an 'afterglow' but considering the circumstances that was a dangerous train of thought. This harbinger of pain and misery was none other than the Tanz Leiche the head of Crossroad's interrogation unit. She was the other one besides him tasked with finding Harry Potter, she had been sent after the death eaters in search of this information, and from what he heard she had already become something of a bedtime story told to naughty children in 'pureblood' Households.

"Oooh. Poor Phily. I'm sooo sorry" Her insane smile seemed to get wilder at the sight of the blood dripping from his nose. It was fairly obvious to everyone in the hall that she was not being sincere…

…everyone but Xenophilius Lovegood that is "oh, no worries. It's not your fault the nargels switch the doors around"

"oh, I knooooow. Pesky little things aren't they?" she said with what could've passed for humor in her voice.

"Indeed, they are quite incorrigible. I can never find a pair of matching socks because of them." Xeno gestured back to the now closed door. "In any case, how goes your investigation?"

"It's been so fun! But none of them are interesting." She said with a full blown frown. "I would just **love** to get my hands on that Billatrix. **SHE** would probably appreciate the way I would make her scream. We would have so much **FUN!**" Her tone was bordering on obsessive and Xenophilius couldn't help but want to change the subject to something within his comfort zone before she started gushing like a psychotic fangirl.

"So what did you get out of this one?"

She looked confused Before something seemed to dawn on her. "oh." She went back through the door and what sounded like crooning could be heard through the thick iron. What followed were the sounds of some frantic unintelligible babbling and then the sound of something ripping and breaking. Tanz walked back out with a thick new layer of blood covering her hands. "Thanks for reminding me I almost forgot." She said with a smile. "He didn't know anything though." She pushed her short wiry blonde hair out of her eyes, the blood from her hand holding it back. "I guess I should give Corvo my report"

"You should probably put some clothes on, then" she snorted but ducked into the door quickly regardless of her apparent displeasure with the idea. She returned with a large fur coat. To Xenophilius' displeasure she refused to close the front and he knew better than to try to force the issue so they just started on their way to Corvo's office. He tried not to breathe the whole way there, Tanz smelled like a corpse. The smell of decay was so powerful he could see it coming off her. There simply were not words for how fucked up Tanz was, how his little Luna could possibly consider her a friend was beyond him. Granted she was not so bad as far as conversationalists went he supposed but everything about her made his brain scream at him to run far away.

They soon reached a plain oak door and did not bother knocking before entering. Corvo always knew when someone was coming to visit. Either that or he was just always prepared for that inevitability. Xeno's face was becoming blue by this point and he was wondering how he would give his report without having to smell Tanz, maybe he could sign the report to him.

Corvo looked up his expression appearing as cold as it ever did. He regarded them for a moment before sighing. He pulled out one of his cigars and lit it before speaking; Xeno was certain he had been holding his breath as well when Tanz had entered the room. "Ms. Leiche, are you afraid of water?"

"um… No?"

"Then kindly take a bath next time you come to call." He turned the Xenophilius "Mr. Lovegood you can't give me your report if you aren't breathing." He turned back to Tanz "your report if you please, Ms. Leiche."

Tanz was visibly fidgeting under the gaze. How Corvo was capable of this was anybody's guess. Tanz was usually so cocky and intimidating she could make giants weep. Seeing her so humble and even nervous, seeing her so… human, was interesting.

"Well… um. I haven't been able to get any new information from the, uh… prisoners. Just that they had been in possession of the… book for the later part of their war and had been using it to target the newly gifted. But… they, umm… lost it. B-beyond that they don't seem to know anything."

Corvo gave a small nod and turned back to Lovegood. "And your report?"

"I believe I found the Magical Registry… the book that is. It is in the possession of a man who goes by the name 'Croaker'. I am positive that the book has not been confounded."

"How?" Corvo asked simply

"Croaker is an unspeakable, researcher and a secret keeper, if the book is in his care than no one has even had the opportunity to touch it, let alone tamper with it."

"Can we reason with him?"

"We could try but I doubt we would be successful."

Corvo nodded and directing his attention back at Tanz. "Go get Walker, tell him I have an assignment for him"

"The thief or the researcher?" Tanz inquired.

"There is a diference? Just get both of them" Corvo answered. "And take a bath, **that** is an order."

"Y-yes Padrone." She quickly turned and fled from the room.

It was not even a minute later that two figures entered. The two, who were clearly twins, entered, their hoods casting deep shadows over their eyes. Besides their hoods their attire was quite professional. Lovegood knew this was a front however; they were far more mischievous than their little helpers the Weasley twins. Unlike the other twins however the Walker twins would never own up to or even give any indication that they had done anything. They were like older, more discrete Weasley twins, so much so that one could imagine them removing their hoods to reveal fiery red hair. As it happened they had black hair, he had caught a rare glimpse of them without their hoods up one day. They were the heads of both the 'infiltration and retrieval' department and a branch of the research department dubbed 'the department of gadgetry'. Which twin did which was yet another mystery Lovegood was determined to solve. It didn't help any that they had never given anybody their names and both insisted on being called Walker. They did this deliberately as a prank he was sure of it, but there was more that he couldn't figure out.

"You simply must tell us how you manage to make her run like that, Corvo." A light smirk adorned both twin's faces. The light of the room reflected off of plates of metal that seemed to cover their eyes from beneath their hoods. If they had eyes to see Lovegood was sure they would be gleaming with mischief.

"I don't know what you're talking about." The twin smirks widened just a little at this.

"The Hemophiliac said you had an assignment for us?" they gave the impression that they were raising their eyebrows but Lovegood couldn't really see any change in their facial expressions. Corvo nodded. "So what's the mission?" they spoke in unison sounding more like a single entity than two individuals.

"you are to retrieve a high priority item from an unspeakable, Lovegood will have more information for you."

"An unspeakable you say?"

"Could this be a challenge?"

"We can only hope brother."

"Thirty pounds of gold says we can do it drunk."

"It's a deal, brother."

The Walkers turned to Xeno and tilted their heads to the left in a curious manner. "So what have you got for us Mr. Quibbler?"

Mr. Lovegood already felt worn out and felt that by the time he finished with the twins he would be unlikely to make it to his bed before he collapsed from exhaustion

_Luna POV _(the same day)

Luna sat atop a stool happily swinging her feet. Usually she would be helping her aunty Soie serving drinks but the bar was relatively quiet at the moment so she was given a break. She loved the bar. There were so many interesting characters that came for drinks from humans to vampires to goblins. There was even a homunculus at one of the tables. She always wondered how a bar like the leaky cauldron got more business than they did; it was such a dingy little dive.

During her breaks Luna always found comfort in watching Aunty Soie mix and serve drinks faster than they could be ordered despite the presence of no fewer than 20 patrons. The movement of her arms reminded Luna of a spider managing its web. It made Luna thirsty.

"Aunty Soie." The Bar master turned to the small girl with an eyebrow raised, she found Luna's way of addressing her endearing. "I would like salt rum (see authors notes) with chili-pepper juice and chocolate please. And can I get an umbrella?" Several of the patrons who were not regulars of the bar looked at her as if she had lost her mind, finding it strange that a ten year old girl would be ordering alcohol. Luna honestly didn't understand their logic, why care about underage drinking when the magical population went out of their way to break just about every other law from j-walking to murder? People could get hung up on the weirdest things.

To everyone who was watching's surprise the drink arrived in short order and without fuss, it even had the umbrella. To all the regulars they shook their heads at the order, they were used to the weird shit the Lovegood family considered palatable.

Luna was halfway through her drink when two red headed teens approached the bar with a little swagger to their step.

"good day madam"

"we'll have two shots…"

"…of your finest…"

"…and strongest…"

"…Fire whisky." The twins said together

"no." was the only reply they got from Madam Soie.

"but see here…" said George (Luna could always tell them apart).

"…you just gave dear…" said Fred

"…sweet…"

"…innocent…"

"little Loony a drink!" George finished

"and she's three years younger than us." Fred added helpfully.

Soie fixed the two of them with her serious gaze "yes I did. Because Luna works for it, while all the two of you do is prank all my customers. Not to mention that you can't hold your liquor and don't tip."

"Oh well" the twins said with dual shrugs.

"It was worth a shot dear forge."

"We won't give up yet Gred."

"Indeed. If at first you don't succeed…"

"Try, try again."

"Insistent little shits aren't you." Soie said, she didn't seem to care in the slightest that she was talking to children. "didn't your mother teach you any respect before you tried to join the circus?"

"Nope." Fred replied

"Oh but how she tried" George commented dreamily, clearly remembering how they would prank her to no end at every opportunity.

A hooded individual appeared at the bar and the twins dreamy expressions changed to those of respect. Their mother might have failed but they would always recognize a superior prankster.

"Good day twins, madam, and you little Luna-tic"

"Hello Left Leg." Luna replied dreamily. Like with the two red heads she could always tell the difference between the two Walkers

"Left Leg?" Soie questioned eye brow raised, with an amused smirk on her normally stern face.

"Well sure…" Left began

"It's because we Walk" Both walkers said in unison. Right leg had appeared seemingly from nowhere next to his brother. "Two Fang n' Cures if you'd please" they continued together

The Fang n' Cure was the strongest shot the bar served and the only one that Luna was not allowed to mix, with good reason. Two small glasses of alcohol were placed before the Walkers. Floating atop of a layer of bright green liquid was an oily black substance that Luna knew was Basilisk venom. At the glass was the reason Luna wasn't allowed to make them, the antidote to the venom. If it mixed with the alcohol before it was ingested than it wouldn't work, people dropping dead at the bar would be bad for business. As it was the drink had to be swallowed in one go without a drop remaining or they would drop dead anyway. However it apparently had quite the effect, hallucinations, euphoria, numbness, and temporary parsletongue for whatever reason. Most of the people who ever drank it and lived reported it to be the most intense high of their lives.

The walker twins downed the drinks in less than a second. Not a whole lot changed about them, but their mischievous and confident smirks became full blown grins.

"Thanks sssspider woman." They said in unison. Even the slur in their words was perfectly coordinated. Soie looked slightly irritated at the comment but did not offer a rebuttal.

"Well off to do that job, Sssso I can collect my gold" one of the twins proclaimed

"We'll be sssssober before it's finished and **I'll** be the one collecting hissss gold." The other twin stated as they staggered off. They never outright lost their balance but they seemed to sway dangerously from side to side. Luna was surprised they could even find the door; then again they always had impeccable senses of direction.

By this time Luna had finished her drink and decided that she wanted to see what her mother was up to. She said farewell to her friends and left. Went to the wall were the various exits were located choosing the second door to the right proceeded down the stair.

She went to the research department, a corridor like every other department. Most of the doors were open giving a clear view into each room, a mess of papers. The walls bearing scorch marks and cracks many of these marks were accompanied by notes written directly onto the walls. The damage and debris spilled over into the halls and Luna had to step around potholes and papers while at the same time avoiding frantically scurrying scientists and Magicals. Despite the openness of the department there were some closed doors that her mom had always warned her away from entering, so far her curiosity hadn't gotten the better of her.

This was Luna's favorite place. The bar was nice and comfortable and the patrons were able to satisfy her curiosity to an extent. But nowhere satisfied her and at the same time left her thirsting for knowledge like this place, her thirst for knowledge went far beyond mere curiosity here. She learned everything here, this place was her school. Science and magic came together here the way it didn't anywhere else. Everything developed and created here was essential in the operations of the rest of the company.

Luna came to a door that had been blown clean off its hinges, it had never been fixed since the accident and since then it had been covered in notes on varying subjects from the door's composition to equations for the force required to damage the door, compliments of her mother.

She peered inside and saw a spectral figure notes floating in the air all around it. Pens frantically writing seemingly on their own accord black boards quickly loosing blank space as equations were written and rewritten atop one another. The Spectre's very strangely alive eyes were almost literally glowing with curiosity as it surveyed a small red stone. The spectre was none other than the research department's resident poltergeist for two years and head supervisor, Lysandra Lovegood, Luna's mother.

"what are you looking at?" Luna said grabbing her mother's attention.

"MOONBEAM!" the poltergeist cheered swooping down to embrace Luna. The hug lacked the warmth of a mother's embrace but the cold arms were filled with an energy that Luna found unique and exciting. She would rather have one of her mother's freezing hugs than Ms. Weasley's smothering. "Have you been drinking? You feel like you've been drinking. Oh well. I'm looking at this cool rock-stone-crystal-thingy. Some man named Flamel dropped it off saying something about not wanting to continue living, which I can TOTALLY understand. I'm looking at how it effects various magicanandnonmagicalsubstances and I made GOLD! This rock is so cool! It absorbs magic and purifies bloods and I think I made ambrosia! But it might just be some other gold colored liquid, I canttellsincei'mdeadandall. Oh look at me, I'm rambling. That's enough of that. How's my favourite little researcher? I haven't seen you in hours!"

She wasn't so full of energy or nearly so chatty when she was alive, it must just be part of being a poltergeist. She also had a tendency to mess with other people's experiments, and while it annoyed them it probably had more to do with her curiosity than her state of being. Luna smiled at her mother's excitement. "I'm fine. yes I have been drinking. That is interesting. I could try some of the ambrosia if you'd like?"

"NO! I don't know what it could do! And if it does work you'd be ten for ever! You'd always be so cute but you'd miss out on so much. Besides it's not the human testing stage yet! Let start with a mouse…" a small dropper filled with a gold liquid floated over to a glass case with a small white mouse inside. The mouse lifted its head to examine the dropper and took an experimental lick of the golden fluid. The mouse stopped moving at this point, Luna could understand this, it must be very hard to move when you're made of gold. "ooooh the Goblins are going to just LOVE this stuff!" She filled a vial with the liquid and labeled it "Midas' medicine."

Luna's smile widened at her mother's enthusiasm. She loved her family, and this included everyone in the Crossroads Company. They were always so interesting!

_POV_ (later that night)

The twins were arguing. The job had been easier than they had expected it to be. So easy in fact they had the sneaking suspicion that they had been given the book willingly. They preferred to think it was all skill however so they ignored that thought.

They had delivered the book to Corvo and decided to take a leisurely stroll down to the research department, see if they couldn't stave off their boredom.

"I told you, brother. Pay up."

"No way! **I** am still drunk. You owe ME"

"I want a lump of gold the size of a small dog."

"OOOOOH! I can do that!" a very enthusiastic voice shouted.

"What can you do?" The twins felt a magical signature coming from an object to their left that radiated light but didn't displace any mater. That's what ghosts felt like, and there was only one ghost in the entirety of the company.

"I can make a lump of gold the size of a dog."

"**Make** gold?" the twin's interest had been piqued.

"Well, yeah. I seem to have created a substance that turns organic matter into Gold! Not absolutely **pure** gold mind, there's iron and other heavy metals present as well, but it is pure by human standards at least."

"You're serious?"

"of course!"

"Damn Cat, the goblins are gonna love you." A thought occurred to the"so… you'd turn a dog into gold?" the twins questioned tilting their heads a little to the left

"Yep!"

"You'd kill a dog?"

"well…there isn't any evidence that the animals actually **die**." The poltergeist stated hesitantly

"is there any evidence that they don't?"

"…"

"Right, well then, we respectfully decline the offer. We don't want you to put a poor little puppy through that on our account."

"Well if you don't want me to make you a new one I can give you one of the five or six I've got laying around." At this the twins felt very sad.

They thought of those cute little puppy dog eyes staring into their souls as their life turned into money. Even if they couldn't actually see the look in their eyes they could certainly feel it, the twins felt like something just died inside.

"Umm… no thanks Cat…"

"…you keep them."

The ghost seemed a bit put out, and just a little bit confused. She didn't seem to see what was wrong with this. It probably had something to do with being dead. It would appear death just didn't have the same meaning for her.

_Corvo POV_ (minutes before)

_"Hogwarts?" _Corvo had never once heard of the place. But from what the registry said it was a school. The boy being sent to a boarding school or an orphanage was not hard to believe. what was baffling was that it was a school for Magic, No one has ever attempted to form such a thing. in this day and age a gathering or even an official education of magicals was not only illegal but also highly dangerous.

Perhaps it would be beneficial to have someone on the inside.

end

**A.N: alright Chapter two complete! i feel so accomplished. although this was a very quick update i would not advise expecting me to keep up with this. my updates will probably be erratic.**

**now for just a few notes to help clarify one or two things.**

**first being the drink Luna orders. Rum is made from distilling natural sugars most often found in plat matter. this process cannot be done with salt. but this is magic we're talking about so who says they can't? it was suitably weird sounding to pass for a magical drink so now it is one.**

**second would be the Walker twins and the names they call people. the majority of them are self-explanatory but for Luna's mother they call her 'Cat'. for an explanation just think about what curiosity killed and it should make sense. i found the name appropriate considering her circumstances.  
**

**unspeakables**** fill the same niche in this universe as they did in the cannon universe with the added job of keeping very rare, powerful, or dangerous artifacts safe. someone has to.**

**and finally Luna's mother's name is Lysandra because she needed a name so i just took the name of on of her children and made it feminine since there is no official name listed for her.**

**That should be everything. sorry that these last two chapters haven't really gotten into the story yet.**

** AAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDD story change. i'm writing this as I go so I've just changed the last sequence of the chapter to suit my goals for future chapters.**


	3. Chapter 3

Good day all just a note for anyone who is reading this story.

Due to a variety of factors which range from discontent with what i have written to very little traffic. The story will be going into rewrite if not indefinite hold. it all just started falling apart in my head when i tried to explain magic. my advice to anyone who wants to try explaining magic is to do it simple or not at all.

well when next this story is updated the story will be completely rewritten up to the current time so there will not be mico updates but just one big one.

yeah that's about it

sorry to disappoint i guess?


End file.
